"A group of artists who came to be known as the 'Northwest School' emerged in and around Seattle in the 1940s. Those who say no 'northwest School of art' ever really existed speak true. No formal group met in agreement; no manifesto was issued. Yet when the words 'Northwest School' are spoken, only a newcomer to the region may not know what is meant. The elusive nature of the School is in keeping with the spirit of the art itself. From the beginning, it defied definition. Four artists were brought to national attention by a 1953 article in Life magazine, titled 'Mystic Painters of the Northwest': Mark Toby, Morris Graves, Guy Anderson, and Kenneth Callahan." [Source: Ament, Deloris Tarzan. Iridescent light: the emergence of Northwest art. Seattle : University of Washington Press ; La Conner : Museum of Northwest Art, c2002]

Guy Anderson was born in a rural area near Edmonds, Washington, on November 20, 1906. From his childhood, Anderson was intrigued by other cultures, especially Northwest Coast Native American carvings. He was also interest in art from an early age and, when he was old enough, regularly commuted by bus to the Seattle Public Library to study art books. His painting technique was largely self-taught, though he did study briefly with Alaskan scenic painter Eustace Ziegler. In 1929, he won a Tiffany Foundation scholarship and spent the following summer at the Tiffany estate on Long Island. When Anderson returned to the Northwest, he set up a studio at his parents' home. In 1929, he exhibited his work in a group show in Seattle. Morris Graves saw his work and sought him out at his studio, and the two soon became good friends. In 1937, Anderson and Graves began to share a cabin near La Conner. They both found work with the W.P.A. Federal Art Project during the Depression. In the 1940s and '50s, Anderson lived and worked in Seattle but also shared Kenneth Callahan's Granite Falls studio and often visited Graves in La Conner. In 1959, he moved to La Conner permanently. Guy Anderson died in 1998.